1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of transmitting mini-messages. It also relates to a transceiver device associated with the method. The invention is applicable to the field of transmitting data through a transmission network. It is applicable more particularly to the field of transmissions in which the data transmission network is a mobile telephone network or an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). An object of the invention is to transmit mini-messages through the transmission network between a caller and a called party at lower cost. However, a preferred application of the invention relates to transmitting a smart card code (such as a personal identification number (PIN)) to an authentication center by using a mobile telephone network as the transmission network.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Currently, it is known that a message can be transmitted from a caller to a called party through a transmission network, such a message being a data structure comprising from a few bytes or even a few tens of bytes (the message may then be referred to as a “mini-message”) to several thousands of bytes. In the state of the art, to transmit a message, it is necessary to set up a call between a caller and a called party, to transmit the message through the link, and finally to clear down the call once the interchange between the caller and the called party is finished.
When transmitting mini-messages, such a procedure poses problems. At the scale of a mini-message, the time required to set up a call, plus the call time, plus the time required to clear down the call gives a transmission time that is too burdensome.
In addition, when the mini-messages are smart card codes, for example, several tens of thousands of transactions can take place through the transmission network every day. Such a high number of transactions, associated with the state-of-the-art procedure gives rise to a load on the network that is very considerable. That load on the transmission network is tending to become increasingly large as a result of the ever-increasing number of applications that implement smart cards and of the ever-increasing number of associated transactions. It should also be specified that the use of a call through a transmission network is not free of charge. The resulting cost of sending mini-messages is non-negligible in view of the number of transactions.